THE MATCH

WEDNESDAY 3RD MARCH 7:45PM

v

LAST MATCH



Well how can I put that into words, a game of two halves to say the least. Probably our best half of the season (there's not been many has there ) saw us 2-0 up through a double from Windass. He should have had a hat-trick but blazed over when put through with only the keeper to beat. Onto the 2nd half, and oh dear, what a shambles. Luton pulled one back just after the break and everyone on here knew what was going to happen. The equaliser came soon after and the inevitable winner came with a few minutes left. Six points behind now with just 1 game in hand.

THE MATCH



Newly appointed Darren Moores's first game in charge is a derby v Rotherham. Not quite sure what to expect hopefully a 90 minutes performance instead of just one half of playing. Rotherham have lost there last 5 games which usually means certain defeat for us, though with a new manager in charge, hopefully things will change for the better. This lot beat us 3-0 earlier in the season, which was probably our worst performance (of many) of the season. Will we get a change of fortunes now that we have a new manager.

CURRENT FORM

OWLS               -                               

ROTH               -                                      

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

DARREN BOND
Matthew Jones and Michael George
Fourth Official : Michael Salisbury

THE TEAM

Apparently he plays 4231

Wilddmith
Palmer Dunkley Urhogide  Penney
Bannan Hutch
Harris Windass Reach
Rhodes

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

2-1 Windass

BML STANDINGS

Owlkev 11
Stateside 10
Washington 9
Imre 6
Pei 6
SCO 6
Wereham 5
Maddix 4

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Norwich City v Brentford
Queens Park Rangers v Barnsley
Watford v Wycombe Wanderers
Bristol City v AFC Bournemouth
Stoke City v Swansea City

HAHAA

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

3 days after the win now so time to start ****ing on the parade again    

I was just looking through the squad  and what we are gong to need next season and it is scary which ever league we are in, just the 4 loan players would cost over £30 million according to TransferMarktz and we will need to replace or sign them.  We then have the players who will leave whether our choice or theirs as their contracts are up, where is the money coming from?

Ainsley Maitland-Niles         Jun 30 2021
Conor Gallagher                 May 31 2021
Okay Yokuslu                     Jun 30 2021
Mbaye Diagne                    Jun 30 2021
Kieran Gibbs           31       Jun 30 2021
Kyle Bartley                       Jun 30 2021
Hal Robson-Kanu     31       Jun 30 2021
Kamil Grosicki         32       Jun 30 2021
Kyle Edwards                     Jun 30 2021
Branislav Ivanovic   37       Jun 30 2021
Lee Peltier              34       Jun 30 2021  
Conor Townsend                Jun 30 2021
Andy Lonergan        37      Jun 30 2021

Premier League

Player Pts CS CR GB BB SB
B.B.B. 19 2 2 10 3 0
Snooty 17 1 3 10 3 0
Derby 10 0 5 5 -3 0
A.A.A. 7 0 5 NP -3 0
Twerton 7 0 4 -3 3 1
Sanjay 6 0 3 5 -3 0
Amelia 6 0 3 5 -3 0
Bomber 5 0 2 5 -3 1
Themclad 3 1 2 -3 -3 1
St Charles -6 0 0 -3 -3 0

I seem to remember a couple of weeks ago that Zinman couldn't be bothered to do a write up and I had to remind him that our responsibility is to write a witty and informative narrative of the weekly results!!!  Well bollocks to that I'm taking my ball home this week!!!  So Zinman called me and reminded me that we have to play with our balls and if I took mine home I would have to deduct 3 points from my score - my response cannot be typed here but good luck deducting 3 points from me this week, won't make any difference in the slightest!!!  

Of course I blame Lee Mason!!

Ok, here is my "responsibility" write up.  BBB leads the way again this week with 19 points, courtesy of a correct score Gamball!!  Lord Snooty also got a CS Gamball and again finds himself in 2nd spot with 17 points, a score that will see him move closer to those above him in the table.  Third place is a currently consistent Derby with 10 points, he too had faith in Lee Mason West Brom to get a result on the Gamball and backed that up with 4 more CRs.

The next 6 players were separated by just 4 points, thats going to make the table easy to type this week!!  AAA missed out on 3 points by not playing his Gamball, Twerton had no faith in WBA which cost him points, Sanjay did have some faith in them, as did Amelia and Bomber but they all got little else and Themaclad missed on both his scoring balls to cancel out the CS he managed.

And so we get to last place where we find St Charles who managed something we are more used to seeing from Joker, a complete whitewash on every game to end on -6!!  So on reflection I will not take my ball home, what's the @#$%^&* point, its a crap game anyway!!!

BBB - 254
St Charles - 203
Sanjay - 203
AAA - 189
Bomber - 177
Lord Snooty - 175
Derby - 157
Amelia - 139
Themaclad - 133
Twerton - 120

BBB stretched his lead to 51 points, is that the title done and dusted?? SCO's disaster means the lead he had on Sanjay has completely disappeared and they are now locked together in joint 2nd!! The other big mover is Lord Snooty, who with his fine run and Bomber's complete lack of form sees him just two points behind our reigning champion!! The rest are as you were but Twerton was able to close the gap a bit on Themaclad but still faces an uphill battle to catch him.

Cheers
SCO


Championship

BaggieOne 8pts 0CS 4CR 5GB -3BB 0SB
Joker 5pts 1CS 4CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Zinman 5pts 0CS 2CR 0GB 3BB 0SB
Minizin 3pts 0CS 3CR 0GB -3BB 0SB
DD 1pt 0cs 3CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Silver 0pts 0CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 0SB
Somerset 0pts 0CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 0SB
Lady Jane -2pts 0CS 2CR -3GB -3BB 0SB
Stairs -3pts No submission

Oh dear, not exactly a free scoring week with predictions as accurate as Brighton's penalty taking. Just 1 correct score, 1 correct gamball, I correct bonus and 2 scoreballs. If Bomber had put the matches up a couple of days later we couldn't have done much worse. Still, on the bright side, SCO managed to make all of us look at least half competent!

A familiar look to this week's table (if you ignore the total points column) with BaggieOne sitting on top for the 7th time in the last 8 weeks. Not that he had to do much, his correct gamball result on its own would have secured him a share of the top spot, and he backed this up with 3 other correct predictions. Joint second place is Joker, who equalled B1's 4 correct predictions, including the week's only correct score, and Zinman. Zin only got 2 results right, but by getting his bonus correct and wimping out of the gamball, he achieved respectability.

Minizin and DD were the only others to add any points. Mini again chose wisely in not playing the gamball while DD owed his massive point to a correct scoreball. Silver and Somerset scored as well as an England batsman playing on a cabbage patch but at least didn't drop into negative territory. That dubious honour (oh good, my US spell check has let me type that word correctly) falls to Lady Jane, equalling Zinman's 2 correct predictions but screwing up her balls. Still, at least she did better than SCO!

No predictions from Stairs this week, but he didn't miss out on much.

Could I also take this opportunity to dispel rumours of another rule change giving all those whose user name begins with Z an extra 10 points each week. ZCO and Zomber decided it probably wouldn't be fair and vetoed my suggestion.

Minizin 216
BaggieOne 205
Stairs 186
Zinman 183
Silver 181
DD 179
Somerset 175
Joker 174
Lady Jane 136

As you'd expect in such a low scoring week, not a lot of changes in the overall table. Minizin still leads though the gap to BaggieOne continues to close. Stairs absence didn't harm his overall standing but the chasing pack is closing on the play-off place with Zinman leaping, or more accurately, stumbling into 4th place. Only 12 points between 3rd and 8th though Lady Jane's woes at the foot of the table continue and, barring a BaggieOne like surge of form, she looks odds-on to remain there to the end of the season.

Zin

So where do we begin? Another game, another huge heap of dross (stronger words are available) served up by those associated with Huddersfield Town and quite frankly it is rather embarrassing if you take the last 3 years that we have had to endure, it truly reeks of sheer incompetence and amateurism from top to bottom. Yesterday saw Town produce another lacklustre performance with the lack of quality showing through yet again. The lack of direction on and off the pitch is astounding and equally worrying.
We can talk all we want about the player sales and how that money hasn't been invested wisely, we know where it has gone. We can talk about the parachute payments and where it has gone, we know where it has gone. We can talk about why inexperienced people are in important places, we know why that is. We can talk about the lack of quality in the squad. We know why that is. We can talk about why we have this pathways ideology, we know why. The Prince of Huddersfield put the land in the care of the pauper and has proceeded to ravage the land ever since.

What makes it worse, is the inability to make our views heard, so that the powers that be at the club know how we actually feel. They'll say that they do, but they very much seem to ignore a lot of it. The only platforms to air our views are online and we all know how easy it is to avoid hearing or seeing things that we don't want. Would things be playing out differently if fans were able to attend matches and protest against what is happening? I have my doubts if I am honest, a protest against what has happened with the money and the training ground development for example, won't make it come back or progress. The only thing it would do is make everything feel uncomfortable for Phil, Dean and the rest of the set up, it might lead to a few token gestures to lull us into thinking its working, a change of Chief Exec, change of Head of Football, but it won't change what is really happening I don't think. Unfortunately, it seems like whilst we aren't allowed into the grounds or to do anything really, that we are going to be stuck with the clowns and the circus will rumble on. We can discuss it until we are blue in the face and the only impact it will have is making us angrier and more annoyed.


Huddersfield Town Team Photo 2020/2021

Talking of blue faces, we move onto the Blue Noses of Brummingum.

Like Town, everything about Birmingham at the moment is feeling blue, although, they come into the game on Tuesday on the back of a positive result, coming from behind to beat one of the leagues in form sides in QPR. It was a late resurgence, with Charlie Austin giving QPR the lead just before half time, but goals in the last ten minutes from Kristian Pedersen and Alen Halilovic gave Birmingham a vital 3 points to keep them 5 clear of the drop zones. Prior to that, points had been hard to come by for the blue side of Birmingham, with February yielding just the 4 points until the 3 came on Saturday, that being said, Town have taken just the 5 points in total in 2021. Some of the standout results for Birmingham in February were losing 3-2 away at Bournemouth, why have I picked that? well Bournemouth are supposed to be one of the better teams in the league and Birmingham had several decent chances before taking the lead through Scott Hogan, he scored again to level it up at 2-2 but former Town player Phil Billing scored the winner coming into the final 10 minutes. It just shows that they are very much capable of creating chances and out leaky defence will have to up its game significantly. Another notable performance, away again, but not quite a goal fest was their 1-0 win away at Sheffield Wednesday, who are also very much in the thick of it down at the bottom. Wednesday went down to 10 men and Hogan scored yet again for Brum.

The other results of February saw them lose at home to Luton via a Dan Potts goal and 3-1 to Norwich with Teemu Pukki bagging a brace there.  The other results on the road were a 2-0 defeat at Millwall through goals from Jed Wallace and Ben Thompson, whilst a boring 0-0 was played out at Wycombe, with Birmingham seeing former Halifax defender Marc Roberts see red for two yellow cards.

January was a real struggle for Birmingham. They began the year in 18th place, but picked up 4 points and were knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester City. They lost 2-0 at home to Blackburn on the 2nd of January and really failed to work the keeper, a 1-0 win away at Middlesbrough transpired after the FA Cup weekend, with Hogan scoring in the first half. Before ending the month with a 1-0 defeat at home to Preston and a 1-1 draw at home to fellow home side Coventry. By the end of January they had sunk to 20th.

Since the two sides met back in October, both sides sat on 10 points in 15th and 16th spot, Birmingham have added 24 points and Town 26 since then and there haven't been many stand out games for them, although there has been a few hefty defeats along the way, which probably highlights why they are in a struggle. They lost 4-0 at home Derby County, 4-1 at home to Middlesbrough as well as losing to relegation candidates Wycombe, also at home, throwing away a lead, we know about that. There has however been wins away at Preston and Bristol City, but positive results have been few and far between.



Was there any changes in January? well they have decided to stick with Jose Mourinho protégé Aitor Karanka for now and  the club was struggling for the last few years when the Chinese owners money dried up resulting in poor pieces of business and struggling through. That all changed last summer when they sold boy wonder Jude Bellingham for an initial 20 million, enabling them to be more active in the market.  In January the club were able to bring in 4 players in addition to the 10 they signed in the summer, some for decent money too, like Hogan for 2.5 mil and keeper Neil Etheridge for 2 mil. The January business wasn't as costly, but it still saw Southampton fullback Yan Valery sign on loan along with Rekeem Harper from West Brom. Keyendrah Simmonds joined on a free from Man City's under 23's, but the main addition was that of Sam Cosgrove from Aberdeen. The burly forward signed for 2 million but has only made the 2 appearances for Birmingham so far and has yet to score.



In terms of departures in January, the list is fairly short. Dan Crowley left to join Hull on loan, whilst Maikel Kieftenbeld left to join Millwall and long time Brum player David Davis joined Shrewsbury on a freebie. Once highly regarded midfielder Josh McEachran was released in January and is yet to find a new club.

What to know about Birmingham, well they are still managed by Karanka, who has also managed at this level with Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest. He's known for focussing on the defensive aspects of the game with less emphasis on scoring goals, more trying to edge games out by the odd goal. Which is fine if you have goalscorers and defenders, it seems like Town, City do not. Some fans wanted him at Town when Wagner (or was it Siewert) left, but his management style doesn't strike as being in fitting with what Towns has been for a number of years. Has often been called out for being unwilling to trust the younger talented players, favouring the experienced heads, but his overall record isn't overly bad and he does tend to find a way in the Championship. He is currently being assisted by His brother David who was a coach with him at Forest.



In terms of who to look out for on Tuesday night, Scott Hogan is probably the main name to pick. Made a name for himself in professional football back in the 2013-2014 season whilst at Rochdale where he scored 17 goals in 33 appearances in league 2, earning a move to Brentford. He scored 21 times in 33 appearances for Brentford in a 3 year stay at the club. He scored 14 of those goals in the 2016-17 season and left to join Aston Villa in the January window. His time at Villa was an unhappy one overall, with the striker struggling to make any real impact at the club, scoring just the 7 goals in 56 games. During his 3 years at Villa Park, the Republic of Ireland international spent time out on loan at the likes of Sheffield United where he scored 2 in 8, Stoke City, where he score 3 in 13 and at Birmingham where he scored 7 in 17, before signing permanently in the summer.  He has scored 6 goals this season and is their leading scorer in all competitions.

Another name to take note of is Jeremie Bela. The Angolan winger has been at the club since signing from Albacete back in 2019 and has made 59 appearances and scored 5 times. He is a product of the famous INF Clairefontaine centre, for those who don't know of it, it is one of 12 elite academies in France and is situated outside of Paris, well 50k outside of Paris. Notable products of the Clairefontaine centre are players like former Spurs and Newcastle defender Sebastien Bassong and former Arsenal midfielder Abou Diaby. Lesser known players like Thierry Henry, Olivier Giroud, Nicholas Anelka and Kylian Mbappe have also come through the system, but none have achieved anything... Bela is known for having a fair amount of pace on him and is able to play on either flank. I imagine he will be lining up on the left tomorrow in order to attack Richard Keogh. Bela has only scored 3 times this season but is joint top for assists with Ivan Sanchez on 5.



The final name to look out for comes a bit further back on the pitch in the form of Maxime Colin. The fullback has featured 34 times for the blues in all competitions and has been a virtual ever present for the club since signing from Brentford back in 2017. He has played 161 times for Birmingham in all competitions scoring only 4 goals, but has made 13 assists. What makes him stand out even more is that he rarely seems to pick up bookings, having had just 14 since joining Birmingham The frenchman did not attend a French centre of excellence because his parents favoured a normal education and he is contracted at St Andrews until 2023.



Going head to head, Town come out on top, but only just, winning 42 times against the Brummy boys, with them coming away victorious 39 times, with the points being shared 33 times. It is worth noting that the last time Town won at home to Birmingham it was in a memorable match for Town fans. With 2 leagues separating the two sides, Town welcomed then Premier League Birmingham to the then Galpharm Stadium in the FA Cup. Town made a quick start to the game, with Luke Beckett firing them ahead after just the 4 minutes. Former Barnsley striker Garry O'Connor levelled things up after 20 minutes but with the fixture heading towards a replay, Chris Brandon found the back of the net to send them through to face Chelsea. It was a result that led to a few Town players being linked with moves up the league with the likes of David Mirfin, Andy Holdsworth and current Town commentator Matt Glennon all rumoured to be wanted elsewhere, but nothing materialised for any of them. It does feel like a lot of our most recent meetings have resulted in draws, but the last 2 meetings have yielded 3 points going to either side. This season a late Lukas Jutkiewicz gave Brum the points after Isaac Mbenza had cancelled out a Gary Gardener opener. Whereas last season Town ran out 3-0 winners, a result that saw us climb out of the relegation places, the earlier game at our spot came as one of the many recent draws on home turf.

Carlos did his usual media duties earlier today

"We don't add any of the injured players to the squad, but we haven't lost anyone. Richard Stearman's progression is really positive. We are going to need more training with Yaya Sanogo to adapt him to play a full game."

"We need to analyse all the players in the team and our options at left-back. Jaden Brown could give us this option, but I need to evaluate it."

"We have to develop the mind of the players; that's the role of the Coach. You have to have players with personality, strong character, and that can deal with difficult moments."

"We need to be ready to adapt to any situation. In all games you will have moments where you lose control whether that be long balls, set pieces or control; that's why football's a challenge. You need to have the character to suffer & beat the critical moments."

"It'll be a very tough, complicated games, but both teams are playing for the same target. Birmingham are in a good moment. In their last three games they won two. We want to change the feeling we have from the last two games. Tomorrow is an important day."

"It's very necessarily from now until the end of the season to have a good dynamic playing at home. We want to change the dynamic when we are playing away. I face every game with the same mentality, trying to go for the three points and prepare the players."

"Josh Koroma, I don't expect to have him until the middle of April. Rolando Aarons will be before. He could be back at the same time of Harry Toffolo, maybe three to four weeks. Jonathan Hogg and Danny Ward could both be working with the team after Cardiff."

“For Tommy Elphick it's very positive. He suffered a long, long term injury. He is moving towards the light training some days with the group and got minutes with the B Team. To have the option to have him in this recovery moment is good too.”

"We just play for our fans. Our aim is to try and make our fans proud. I would like to have our fans here when we are getting good results & in difficult moments. Football is special because of the connection with the fans. You don’t play for yourself, you play for them.”

It felt like he said a lot without really saying anything, other than it is as you were in terms of our squad, hopefully we see Aaron Rowe return to the line up, he has been one of only bright sparks, they are few and far between and I hope we don't see Jaden Brown replace Sorba Thomas on the bench, we seem to always have a load of defenders on the bench, if anyone he could replace Scott High.

As for Birmingham, it doesn't appear as if they have any injuries or suspensions in their squad, so barring any rotation it would seem that the have a full strength squad to pick from. Luck them.

Last time out the lined up;

Neil Etheridge in goal

Colin at right back, with Harlee Dean and Jake Clarke-Salter at centre back and Kristian Pedersen at left back

Ivan Sunjic played the holding role with Rekeem Harper and Gary Gardener in front of him, whilst Jeremie Bela and Ivan Sanchez were on the flanks with Scott Hogan leading the line on his own.

On the bench Marc Roberts replaced Clarke-Salter, Jonathan Leko replaced Bela, Jutkiewicz replaced Hogan, Alen Halilovic replaced Gardener and Yann Valerie replaced Sanchez. The unused subs were goalkeeper Andres Prieto, defender George Friend and midfielders Adam Clayton and Riley McGree.



A foot in both camps

1) An easy one, played for us in league 1 and the Championship, before moving down south. He had 4 years at Town and 3 at Birmingham and lists Bradford, Scunthorpe and Charlton as other employers of his.

2) A lovely looking chappy from the north east of England that is rather fond of Newcastle, has been around a fair bit checking in at numerous different clubs. Has managed both Town and Birmingham. His time at Town was the longest stay he's had as a manager, normally finding himself getting the boot.

3) A striker that played on loan at both clubs, before turning both loans in full time deals. Scored 31 goals for Town and probably would have had more were it not for injuries and suspensions. His time at Birmingham yielded 0 goals in 15 games as he moved swiftly on. Has since been nomadic and plagued with reported bad attitude.

4) Another with a reported bad attitude. He began his career at Birmingham and was highly thought of making 16 appearances for the club. A handful of loans followed and upon his return, his attitude in training was questioned and he was ultimately let go and fell down the leagues, before moving to Huddersfield. He played once for Town before moving on again.

5) An international defender that joined Town on loan from Birmingham and made 12 appearances. He made 16 appearances at Birmingham after joining them from Burnley and went to ply his trade abroad after his release.

6) An international midfielder that had loans at both Town and Birmingham. His loan at City came early in his career and he made 17 appearances for them. His loan spell at Town came after he had suffered a serious knee injury. He would make 30 appearances for Town during his loan and scored 5 times. He currently plays in League 1 at an underachieving club.

7) A hard tackling midfielder that is now retired and has a backroom staff job at one of his old clubs. He played a large chunk of his career in the Premier league with various loans out. He spent 8 years at Birmingham before moving down south. He had 2 loans at Town, with a season ending injury ruining one of them, he never scored for Town but was nominated for the player of the season award.

8) A defender that came through the system at Birmingham but never made a league appearance for the club. He had multiple loans out during his time at Birmingham including a year at Scunthorpe (my commiserations) and a short loan at Peterborough (more commiserations) He had a brief loan at Town, all of one day, before it became a permanent deal. He made one appearance for the club, with some thinking he deserved more of a chance before departing at the end of the season. He has since been around the lower leagues, playing over 150 games for Mansfield and can now be found playing in the Conference.

9) Another international midfielder that came to Town on loan, but from Leicester. He spent half a season on loan at Town playing primarily on the right and made his debut for Town against Birmingham. He played 17 times for Town and scored 2 goals. His time at Birmingham was a bit longer, spending 2 years at the club, but never really achieving what he had at Colchester and would go on to do at Crystal Palace. Since his loan spell at Town he has being plying his trade in the North West of England, most recently in the Conference.

10) A goalkeeper that is rated as one of the best to wear a Town shirt, becoming a firm favourite during a 3 year spell, that started auspiciously. He made 135 for Town and retired back in 2008.

And now the Brumbie anagrams.

1) Hate Mail Shall Clean

2) Zest Nut Term

3) Jade Ford Orb

4) Bald Jug Hem Line

5) Convert Friars

2 points for a correct result
4 points for a correct score
2 points for each correct scorer
Correct joker doubles your score      
Wrong joker result gives you minus 2
Correct Random Badger gives you 2 points

The random badger is used for any random prediction used once in each matchday sequence. For instance, a scorer at a particular match, the number of red cards in the matches or yellow cards or own goals or owt you want really within reason, I do need to be able to check whether it's correct or not. Please don't put stuff like....."Commentator says...."  
The joker   is played for one match in each sequence and if correct you get double points. So if you've predicted 1-0 and it finishes 2-0, you get 4 pts, but if you've predicted 2-0, that's 8 pts. But if you get it wrong, it's minus 2.
Jokers and badgers are optional. You don't have to play one if you don't want.


Cup games:
In the event of a draw, it's half the points if you've predicted a draw when it gets to 90 mins and the full points if it's still a draw after extra time. Half the points will be awarded for correctly predicting the winner of the match if it goes to penalties.

Random score generator: I will be using the random score generator again for those who miss predicting, so we shouldn't get some people too far behind that after missing a couple of weeks they lose all interest, because I know it's not easy getting on here every week.
To be fair to everybody, this is going to be like, say if three people in one week miss their predictions, the first one in the table will be given all 0-0, the second one down the line will get 1-0 and the third will get 0-1 and so on, like if there's four missing the 4th will get 1-1, then 5th 2-1, 6th 1-2. and if there are so many missing, might as well pack in.
And if you miss two weeks on the trot, I'll stop until you come back on again. Not doing it for half a season like I did t'other year.  

Friday 5th March:
Town v Cardiff
Town scorers:
Cardiff scorers:

Saturday 6th March:
Watford v Nottingham Forest (12:30)
Barnsley v Birmingham City
Brentford v Rotherham United
Bristol City v Queens Park Rangers
Coventry City v Derby County
Millwall v Blackburn Rovers
Norwich City v Luton Town
Preston North End v AFC Bournemouth
Reading v Sheffield Wednesday
Stoke City v Wycombe Wanderers
Swansea City v Middlesbrough

Tuesday 9th March:
Blackburn Rovers v Swansea City
Luton Town v Rotherham United
Queens Park Rangers v Wycombe Wanderers

Wednesday 10th March:
Barnsley v Derby County

Bonus match:
Premier League:
Sunday:
Manchester City v Manchester United (16:30)

Table after Matchday 26:

1. Baggiebob(BBB) = 664 pts
   
2. jjamez = 663 pts
   
3. themaclad = 643 pts
   
4. theo_luddite = 640 pts
   
5. St Charles Owl = 610 pts
   
6. Lord Snooty = 605 pts
   
7. neonfoxinthebox = 591 pts
   
8. SHEP_HTAFC = 586 pts
   
9. ritchiebaby = 565 pts
   
10. Amelia Chaffinch = 494 pts
    
11. Beefy 1965 = 356 pts

Altrincham 2-0 Woking
FC Halifax Town 2-2 Hartlepool United
Solihull Moors 2-1 Dagenham & Redbridge
Sutton United 1-1 Bromley
Barnet 0-2 Yeovil Town
Chesterfield 2-1 Eastleigh
Notts County 3-1 King's Lynn Town
Wealdstone 1-2 Boreham Wood

League Table After Matchday 32
Lord Snoots = 298
Amelia = 242
Dancing = 240
Spireitematt = 236
Devon = 222
St Charles = 172
BBB = 0

I’ve just had the dubious pleasure of watching Chelsea v Man United. I don’t think I’ve seen a more boring game in my life. Sky and the pundits peddle the EPL as the greatest league in the world; I can only assume there are some really bad leagues across the planet. I’ve seen more excitement in a funeral home but too would be lead to believe that this was going to be an amazing game between two of the greatest teams in Europe. Jeez, I know we are pretty crap but there was more happening in five minutes of our game yesterday than in the whole 90 minutes at Stamford Bridge. It’s all very well to have technically gifted players who can turn on a sixpence (pre decimalisation analogy there, for those who can remember them!) and ping a ball 40 yards but the complete lack of urgency and activity in the box, honestly you could have taken the keepers off and replaced them with mannequins.
Am I being unfair or was that 90 minutes of my life I’ll never get back?

The joy of South London on a Tuesday night, would have been good to go even though probably would have meant getting home at some riduculous time the following morning, however a year of not watching games at grounds is approaching so the red button it is, reminder it kicks off at 7pm.

OPPOSITION





The Den (previously The New Den) is a football stadium in Bermondsey, south-east London, and the home of Millwall Football Club.[1] The Den is adjacent to the South London railway originating at London Bridge, and a quarter of a mile from the Old Den, which it replaced in 1993.

Built on a previous site of housing, a church and the Senegal Fields playgrounds, the Den has an all-seated capacity of 20,146, although that is restricted to approximately 18,100 to allow for visiting fans segregation and crowd safety measures.[2] The highest match attendance in the 2018-19 season was 17,195.

The Den is the sixth stadium that Millwall have occupied since their formation in the Millwall area of the Isle of Dogs in 1885. Previous grounds include Glengall Road (1885–1886), Lord Nelson Ground (1886–1890), The Athletic Grounds (1890–1901), North Greenwich (1901–1910) and The Old Den (1910–1993).


Never went to the Old Den apparently a bit of an hostile atmosphere can be the same at the new ground although have to say like going there, the home fans are down to earth and take no crap and say it how it is. Quite interesting on the railway platform after games especially having hammered them.

LAST TIME OUT

BARNSLEY 2 MILLWALL 1



Millwall: Bialkowski, Hutchinson, S. Williams (Ferguson 85'), J. Wallace (Bradshaw 90+2'), Thompson (Smith 75'), Romeo, Malone, Pearce (Bodvarsson 85'), Woods, Bennett (Burey 85'), Evans. Subs not used: Fielding, McNamara, Mitchell, Tiensia.

Wallace is decent good scoring record and Smith always causes us problems, not an easy side to play against strong resolute they have been unable to close games down have drawn more than most. Like us I think they have been affected by not having fans in the ground and the pitch isn't the best.
The home side had been on a decent run Saturday's defeat was their first in ten league games, they are one place above us better goal difference even though they have only won 9 games

FORM GUIDE

MILLWALL 11 PNE 9

FAMOUS FOLK FROM BRERMONDSEY

Robert "Bob" Marriott was a British boxer. Twice an amateur champion of England, in his professional career he was British and European lightweight champion between 1919 and 1920.
From Bermondsey, London, Marriott served as Private in the British Army during World War I and was an amateur champion of England at lightweight in 1912 and 1914 (and runner-up to F. Grace in 1913) before turning professional.[1][2][3]

He made his professional début on 12 November 1917 against Ben Callicott at the National Sporting Club, taking a 15-round points decision.[4] In February 1919 he beat Ted Moore, with Moore disqualified in the sixth round for holding.[5]

In April 1919 he fought Raymond Vittet for the vacant European lightweight title, winning after Vittet was disqualified in the third round. Two months later he beat Johnny Summers to take the British lightweight title vacated by Freddie Welsh, again via the disqualification of his opponent, Summers adjudged to have been holding.[6][7]

Marriott was due to defend his British title against Llew Edwards in May 1920 but declined the fight and reportedly returned his Lonsdale Belt to the National Sporting Club.[8][9]

He defended his European title in May 1920, losing to Georges Papin on points in Paris, the fight having been postponed from January due to a leg injury to Marriott.[10]

In February 1921 Marriott retired from boxing, relinquishing his British title, with business interests meaning that he could no longer commit to his boxing career.[11][12]


Be surprised if we pick the same side for this game although Neil could surprise us, two games undefeated can we actually put a decent run of results together for the first time this season, get to the 50 point marker as soon as possible then take it from there.

It appears that the rules we put in place for this fun (?) competition when we started it several years ago have become somewhat blurred over time. As a result we are implementing 2 new rules with immediate effect:

1. The bonus ball will no longer be compulsory.
2. Failure to play the bonus ball will result in the deduction of 3 points from your total score.

Any arguments will be given due consideration before being ignored.